


Blackmail

by musesmistress



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 06:16:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John discovers a secret about Elizabeth and uses it to coerce her off-world for a holiday that turns into a nightmare for them both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

‘Elizabeth!’

‘No,’ she replied for the fifth time as John followed her around the corner and moved towards the stairs up to the control room.

‘You haven’t even heard my idea,’ he protested following her and stopping abruptly as she turned on the stairs.

‘You want me to leave the city for three days to go with Major Ashton’s team to check out the food source on P5X-335. Did I miss anything?’

‘Only that I’d be going too and you’d get a chance to relax.’

Elizabeth gave a short laugh at him before shaking her head and turning away, he watched her go up a few steps before he ran up them behind her, darted past her and stopped her journey.

‘You need a break Elizabeth,’ he pleaded. ‘Everyone can see you’re over worked and under extreme pressure right now.’

‘And you think that leaving the city will make any of this easier?’

‘I think that’s why I’m going too; to make sure you relax while we watch Ashton’s team run around like loonies.’

‘No,’ she repeated and tried to move past him. John reached out, catching her hip with his arm across her stomach.

‘Look, you’ve been wound tight, you snap at people for the smallest things, when was the last time you even slept, Elizabeth?’

He watched her struggle with the idea for a while before he gave her his best puppy dog face and pouted slightly, she wouldn’t be able to resist him. At the very least she would cave slightly and agree to a trip to the main land; that only made it easier for him to move from there to another planet.

‘I’ll throw in a back massage,’ he tried feebly. ‘And I’ll cook for you each night,’ he added pointedly jabbing his finger in her direction.

She smiled at him, the idea obviously appealing to her better nature.

‘No,’ she said again and moved off up the stairs and out of sight. John shook his head at her retreating back, there was no way he was going to let this drop.

~~**~~

‘You know Teyla can keep an eye on things around here.’

He was insufferable, she thought to herself as she fixed her eyes back on her computer screen and continued to read the report.

‘No,’ she stated quietly ignoring his stance against the door frame to her office, he was relaxing idly against it, his feet crossed, arms folded over his chest as he observed her with a smirk that would normally have made her smile back at him.

The pounding in her temples however, reminded her of the last message received from Stargate Command. A message from the IOA that she had told no one about, something she wasn’t looking forward to revealing to anyone, let alone John Sheppard.

‘I can have McKay cut off power to your office,’ he tried lazily.

‘I’ll sit in my room,’ she replied not looking up at him.

‘I’ll get him to...’

‘I have a whole city I can sit in, so unless you plan to have him cut power everywhere, you’ll never win this argument,’ she spat at him, finally raising her eyes to meet his playful ones.

‘Fine,’ he said and she dropped her eyes back to the monitor as he moved into the room and took a seat opposite her. ‘I can’t tempt you with a massage, or by cooking for you every day. I can’t get you out of your office,’ he sucked in a loud breath. ‘I’ll just have to resort to blackmail.’

‘You have nothing on me, Colonel,’ she said her eyes still fixed on the screen.

John didn’t reply he simply sat grinning at her with a smile that would have made the Cheshire cat proud. She watched him out the corner of her eye but ignored him as she continued to read. He couldn’t have anything on her, the only person who had ever read her file, other than the president, was General O’Neill.

‘Okay,’ he said at last and she pulled her eyes away from the report to watch him leave the room. She narrowed her eyes on his back as she watched him move over the bridge and disappear down the stairs and out of sight.

~~**~~

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to a very sunny P5X-335,’ John announced as he excited the Stargate in orbit of the planet, ‘our next stop will be the west coast beach, twenty minutes trek from the Doctor Ambles food source,’ he grinned to his right at Elizabeth, ‘and a wonderful thirty five minutes from the jumper landing site.’

She rolled her eyes at him and concentrated on the approaching land as he moved the jumper from side to side lazily creating his own obstacle course in the sky.

‘I hope you brought your swim suit Doctor,’ he added and she turned sharply to give him a stern look.

‘I don’t have one,’ she said clearly not looking away, she had a very distinct feeling she was not going to rest at all on this “vacation”.

‘Cool,’ John said nodding as he turned the jumper, ‘skinny-dipping.’

Behind her the team of four chuckled, but Elizabeth couldn’t turn her seething gaze away from John. He had bribed her, tricked her and even blackmailed her into coming on this stupid holiday, now he was teasing her and making remarks at her expense.

John didn’t look back at her as she turned moodily away from him, she was beginning to regret her promise to herself that she’d never court marshal him, it was suddenly looking like a very good idea. There were only three ways this short trip could end.

She’d either demand to return to Atlantis and hold a gun to him until he agreed, he’d go back in a body bag, or he would make it up to her and she’s go back relaxed.

She chuckled silently to herself at the thought that there was anything he could do now to make things better. She stared blankly out the front window as John positioned the jumper to land it in the clearing and didn’t move as the group behind her gathered their things and began the walk to the beach.

‘Elizabeth?’ she could hear the slight fear in his voice that he’d done something wrong, she’d heard it before, on many occasions when he’d let Rodney get too far on some stupid project that inevitably went wrong.

She stayed silent and unmoving, wondering if he would agree now if she asked to be returned to Atlantis, or if he’d just say sorry and talk her out of the chair.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. She didn’t move, she wanted to hate him right now, and she couldn’t fully comprehend why, the feeling was mixed in with so many other things. The headache thumping like a drum through her head, the thought of all the work she’d left behind and the amount that would be waiting when she returned.

‘Come on,’ he said at last resting a hand on her shoulder, ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just wanted to lighten the mood; they are the new team after all.’

‘So you thought you’d show them how to get away with shrewd comments?’ she said finally turning to face him. ‘Thought you’d teach them that I was easy?’

She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry; either was looking extremely appealing at the moment along with the fleeting idea to reach out and slap him. His downcast eyes and look of shame took the latter away, but she couldn’t push away the anger she had for him.

It was strange, hours ago when he was telling her all the goodies he’d managed to get hold of for her she couldn’t feel anything but respect for him, she had long ago learned to push away feelings for him, feelings that would betray her and her sometimes stupid policy about not dating subordinates.

But it seemed that whenever she relaxed around him, he would abuse the mile she gave him and take the whole planet.

‘I don’t know what to do with you anymore John,’ she said calmly and he looked up, his eyes searching hers for the meaning behind the words.

She didn’t elaborate; she simply moved to the back of the jumper, collected her bag and stepped out into the warm sun.

~~**~~

The walk to the beach was long and treacherous in John’s opinion, the silence between them was filled with a tense air, he was on her bad side and he knew that he’d have to do something amazing to get out of it and to make sure she relaxed.

He glanced at her several times on the way, taking in the emotion she was battling with and he started to wonder if he would be the one to finally push her over the edge, to make her snap.

The consequences of this possibility ran through his mind; Elizabeth sitting in a straight jacket in the middle of the padded cell, her eyes fixed ahead of her as memories ran over and over her vision.

He stopped, reaching out to stop her as well and retracted his hand quickly as she rounded on him.

‘What?’

‘I brought you here to relax, Elizabeth,’ he stated calmly.

‘Good job, John, remind me next time to bring Rodney, maybe he’ll do a better one.’ 

‘I know,’ he added quickly before she could open her mouth and speak, ‘that I messed up in the jumper.’

‘Well at least you know where,’ she said harshly and he winced.

‘Will you just shut up and let me talk,’ John snapped, he watched the tension grow on her face and knew he’d just made an even bigger mistake, but she was infuriating him. ‘I’m sorry for what I said; I’ll make it up to you.’

‘You can start by taking me back to Atlantis,’ she said moving towards him and off towards the jumper.

‘Elizabeth,’ he called after her, the frustration in his voice as well as his body and huffed out a quick growl before he swung around to catch up with her. ‘No,’ he said sternly stopping in front of her and blocking her way back through the thick vegetation.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to demand he move when someone emerged from the trees behind them.

‘Doctor Weir, Colonel Sheppard, you’ve gotta come see this,’ Doctor Ambles said ecstatically as he practically bounced up and down in their view before turning and vanishing back through the trees.

John took in the glare she gave him before she turned and followed the enthusiastic doctor out into the opening; he followed quickly and stepped out from the trees to find a line of tall thin stones blocking his path.

Elizabeth stood a few feet to his right, her eyes running down the long line of stones that seemed to run around the whole edge of the tree line and possibly the beach.

‘This way,’ someone called from his left and John turned to see one of the lieutenants indicating a gap in the line and the doctor stepping through it.

‘Thought you said this planet was uninhabited,’ Elizabeth said passing him on her way to the gap.

‘We didn’t detect any life signs when we flew over, and we were here for over an hour,’ he quipped as he followed her.

‘Well these,’ she said indicating the stones as she passed them, ‘are not natural formations.’

‘Well if we’d have seen these,’ he indicated them as well, his mood just as sour as hers, ‘then I would have said this place was ONCE inhabited.’

Shouting the word “once” at her didn’t get his point across, she had stepped out on to the beach and stopped dead. He followed her and froze just beside her.

‘Wow,’ he exclaimed, the sight of the beach and sea was amazing, the lush golden sands extended in either direction for miles, the stones lining it like a protective layer keeping the trees back. The blue of the ocean was whiter than that on the shoreline of the mainland and the setting sun gave the whole scene a mystical beauty that even took John’s breath away.


	2. Chapter 2

“Three Days,” Elizabeth thought as she lay on her stomach on the sand inside her tent, she had the flaps of the tent pinned open and was watching the hue of the sun rising behind her cast off over the sea.

Any other situation and Elizabeth would have easily been able to relax in this setting, but the letter from the IOA was firm in her mind causing the previous day’s headache to bounce back, not to mention the fact that John Sheppard was there with her.

To her right, Major Ashton’s team where gathering their things, they were to spend the rest of the trip over at the food source testing the food for poisons and suitability. Elizabeth wished for a moment that she could go with them, instead of spending the next three days on the beach with someone who she loathed at this moment in time.

As she watched them preparing to go she wondered if by the end of the trip she would forgive John for blackmailing her and for the skinny-dipping comment last night. The only thing forcing her to keep a civil tongue with him at the moment was that he had stuck to his promise; he had made a wonderful mixed vegetable and rice dish the night before and finished it off with one of the scientist’s home made chocolates.

She jumped as John sat suddenly down beside her open tent and placed a plate of bread and cream cheese down on the sand.

‘I know it’s not much of a breakfast, but it’s better than energy bars or MRI’s,’ he said with a smile as he turned to watch the four men checking they had everything.

‘Thank you,’ she said, moving to sit up so she could eat comfortably. 

‘I thought we might do a little exploring first,’ he said producing a bottle of water from a pocket and putting it down beside her plate. ‘See if there’s anything interesting around the beach area,’ she waited as he paused watching Ashton’s team wave their departure to them, ‘unless you want to do something else.’

‘Well, I don’t like sunbathing, too much sitting still required,’ she said with a smile and he brightened at the idea that he wouldn’t have to find a way to occupy himself.

‘Great,’ he said as she popped the last of the bread into her mouth, ‘might find a reason for these stones,’ he added bringing her attention back to the line of thin rocks blocking their view of anything outside the beach.

Elizabeth grinned at him before dropping the flaps of her tent in place and pulling the zip down. She dressed slowly, not bothered about rushing as the day was going to be a long one regardless to what they did.

When she emerged a few minutes later John had cleaned up and gathered food and drink to take on their walk. He smiled broadly at her before handing over one of the water bottles and moving with her towards the gap in the stones.

They made small conversation as they made their way through the dense trees of the strange planet, talking about past vacations and what they did with time off. John was just running through the ideas of when and where to stop for lunch when Elizabeth stopped in the path; John stopped suddenly almost walking into the back of her and silenced himself, his military side taking over.

‘What?’ he asked in a whisper.

‘I can hear water,’ she told him, her eyes scanning the tree line ahead.

‘I can’t hear anything,’ he whispered back and she turned her head to quirk an eyebrow at him. ‘What?’

‘Why are you whispering?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said in a normal volume. Elizabeth smiled at him, watching his eyes as they scanned the area. This close to him, she was tempted to just lean over and kiss him, but that would be inappropriate at best, he was stopped close though, she could smell the light sweat of the morning on his skin and it made her hungry to taste it.

‘I still don’t hear water,’ he said after a minute, not noticing that she was watching him as she turned hastily away.

‘This way,’ she said and moved off to the right, she could feel him close behind her following her through the trees. He chuckled lightly at something. ‘What’s funny?’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said and fought back another laugh.

‘What?’ she didn’t get an answer as she stepped out into a clearing and found herself looking at the lush flowers and a large, beautiful waterfall.

‘Wow,’ John breathed in her ear, he was once again stood too close, close enough that she not only heard the whispered word, but felt the breath of it on her neck.

The water pool at the bottom of the waterfall sparkled in the sunlight, the clear blue shimmer of what promised to be fresh water called to her and she moved over to kneel on the bank and dip her fingers in.

The warmth of the water ran over her skin like a welcoming bath after a long day at work. The surrounding area was alive with colourful flowers they hadn’t seen anywhere else so far that day, she couldn’t help but tease a nearby group of daisy-like pale green flowers.

Behind her, she could hear John moving around and she turned to see him laying out a small blanket on a patch of luscious green grass.

‘You brought a picnic?’

‘Well technically no, I brought this in case there was nothing comfortable to sit on, and I brought food.’ 

‘You brought a picnic,’ she said matter-of-factly and stood up to join him, ‘which is good,’ she added as she sat down on the blanket and waited to see what he’d brought, ‘because I like picnics in beautiful places,’ she paused for a second, ‘especially when the company is good.’

She looked hastily away and busied herself with the few items John had placed on the blanket.

‘You wanna swim?’ he asked cautiously.

‘Eventually, yes I would like to take a swim, even though I doubt you’ll be a gentleman and turn around for me.’

‘Why would I wanna do a thing like that?’ he asked with a sly grin on his face as he watched her pop a chip from the now open bag into her mouth.

‘What about you?’ she asked ignoring his comment. ‘Are you going to take a swim?’

‘I was considering it,’ he said his lips in a wide grin as he considered what he was about to say. ‘I was also considering just watching you go... skinny-dipping.’

Elizabeth looked up quickly and grinned as John quickly looked away and started fiddling with something on the blanket. He couldn’t hide the smug grin he had on his face and it made Elizabeth tingle.

She stood up, trying to rid her face of her own grin as she kicked off the sandals she had put on that morning and reached for the hem of her t-shirt. She caught him trying to look out the corner of his eye as she pulled the top up over her head and moved away from him. She dropped it in his view and walked towards the edge of the pool where she stepped out of her pants.

Her back was to him and she knew without a doubt he was now checking out the black panties and bra she still wore. “We’re not breaking any rules,” she told herself and she pulled her feet in close together and picked a spot in the water ahead, “I’m still covered,” she added as she dove off the bank and into the warmth of the water.

She surfaced a little way out and felt for the floor beneath her, she had to move forward a little to make some contact with her toes on the bed of the pool. She turned and looked back at John who sat stunned in his place, his eyes fixed on her.

‘You coming in flyboy or are you just going to sit there and gape?’

It was a moment before John moved; he swallowed hard and reached down to undo the laces of his boots. She could tell he was still watching her, so she made a show of it, reaching out of the water to run a hand back through her hair before swimming forward a little and resting her hands on the bank to watch him.

He cleared his throat as he pulled his shirt off and stood up, she was still grinning as he moved forward and undid his pants before pausing.

‘Do you mind... turning around?’

Elizabeth chuckled at him before letting her eyes run down his body; he shifted uncomfortably for a second before turning his back on her. She watched him as he dropped his pants to the ground and stepped backwards out of them before she pushed up on the side and pulled herself out of the water to rest on her knees behind him.

In the second before he realised she had left the water, Elizabeth reached up and grabbed him by the waist before using her feet, still hooked over the edge of the pool, to pull her backwards and dragged him unsuspectingly into the water.

Elizabeth surfaced closer to the middle of the water pool and moved swiftly back as John followed her up. She had the problem now that she was a few inches too short to touch the bottom and she realised this with a pang of fear as John turned to glare at her before advancing forwards.

She slipped under the water, turned away and kicked out to get some distance between them, she caught his leg with her foot and before she realised he had reacted, he had hold of her ankle.

Elizabeth moved back to the surface as quickly as she could and turned to face him. She tried to put her feet down and slipped back under the surface when the floor didn’t meet her foot. She felt his hands drag her back up quickly and found herself face to face with him his hands still holding onto her hips as he glared at her.

She wiped the water from her face and rested her hands on his shoulders before she looked at him, a smug knowing look that told her he was thinking of something mischievous. His thumbs brushed her hips and she watched him dart his tongue out to wet his lips despite being soaked.

‘So,’ he said coyly, ‘which side is it on?’ he asked looking down her body before back to her face, ‘or is it in the middle?’

‘I was wondering when you’d start asking questions,’ she started, raising an eyebrow at him. ‘Although, I did expect your first question to be why, when or what possessed me.’

‘Those questions are in there somewhere,’ John teased as he brushed his thumbs back over her hips, ‘and you should be thankful I didn’t ask the other question.’

‘What other question?’ she asked trying to guess what it would be for a moment until his eyes lit up like a school boy.

‘Can I see it?’

Elizabeth pulled a face at him and shook her head before smiling.

‘My left,’ she said quietly, ‘close to my hip,’ she added for good measure.

John’s tongue darted out again and he shifted his stance clearly uncomfortable even though he was enjoying the conversation.

‘Why a cat?’

‘Ah,’ she cut him off and raised a finger to his lips, ‘I think its only fair I get to ask a question now,’ she said and waited for his nod. ‘How did you find out?’

‘Carson had your file open on his computer a couple of weeks back; he got called away so I... snuck a peek.’

Elizabeth shook her head at him for being so low as to look at her medical file without her permission, but she couldn’t help her grinning lips as she watched something dawn on his face.

‘I’d prefer to sneak a...’

‘No,’ she said firmly, ‘you can’t see it.’

‘So, why a cat?’

Elizabeth dropped her head and pulled in a harsh shuddering breath, it was a moment before she could compose herself to look back at John and give her answer. She could feel his eyes on her as she raised her head.

‘My cousin designed it,’ she said quietly and looked away, ‘there was about six of us, close friends, we all have the same tattoo, in the same place,’ she closed her eyes in an attempt to pull back tears of the past. ‘We got it done about a week before Mathilda was killed,’ she swallowed hard, ‘shot by some random group of boys who walked through our college waving guns around and firing at random.’

‘Elizabeth...,’ she could see he was trying hard to find the words to apologize, but the words were caught in his throat. Instead she felt him move his hands to her back and pull her close to him, the water that had provided a divider between them pushed out and Elizabeth could feel the hairs on his chest against her skin.

For the briefest of moments, Elizabeth relaxed her head against his shoulder and she breathed him in, before something went swishing past her head a loud thud pulled her attention to the tree to her right.

She heard a twang and was taken off guard as John pulled her under the water and out of the way of whatever had just flown dangerously close to them. Her feet hit the ground as John began to pull her towards the shore and she kicked off as hard as she could.

She surfaced and sucked in a large breath of air, John’s hands gripped her firmly by the waist and he pushed her up and out of the water.

‘Get your things and run,’ he shouted at her and she took off, grabbing her pants as she moved off the bank and bent easily to retrieve her t-shirt as she vanished into the trees.

She could hear John shouting at her to keep going as he followed her thought the forest, she guessed she was heading in the right direction for the beach but had no real idea; she was just following his instructions.

She caught sight of someone off to the left and turned quickly to the right, a low tree branch caught her cheek but she ignored the small tinge of pain and pushed on.

It was a few minutes more when Elizabeth ducked behind a large tree that she realised John was no longer behind her. She sucked in her breath and held it for a moment listening to the silence around her before she pulled her pants on and fiddled with her t-shirt.

Looking around she caught sight of the top of one of the stones that lined the beach, she could reach the beach, get her radio and get Ashton’s team back there to help her find John so they could leave.

She took a moment, leaning back against the tree with her eyes closed. She had wanted to kiss him, back in the water, she’d wanted to do more than that, but a kiss would have been a great start; but he had to go asking questions about the tattoo he never should have known about.

Elizabeth looked up at the sky, the sun was setting and she glanced at her watch, the days were only 14 hours long, in less than an hour it would be pitch black in amongst the trees.

Pushing off from the tree, she took off at a run again, heading towards the stone and she practically sighed in relief as she came out of the trees to find the long line of stones in front of her. She glanced to her left before taking off to the right, she had passed the gap.

She slowed her pace as she reached the gap and looked out onto the beech to check there was no one around before she stepped out into the gap. She turned to double back along the stones and stopped.

Ahead, by a few stones Ashton and his team hung limply against the stones, their backs to the cold surface and blood pooled at their feet. She backed up, one step, two steps and ducked back out of the gap to press her back against the stone on the other side.

‘Ceremonial stones,’ she breathed and squeezed her eyes shut against the image of the four men hung, beaten and bloodied to the stones.

A shout from her left made her snap her eyes open and she turned in time to see someone step out from the trees a distance away, he was turned away from her to start with and as he turned towards her Elizabeth moved, taking off into the trees. She could hear the calls from behind her, he had seen her and she had no doubt he was going to follow.

“The Jumper,” she thought as she skipped over a low branch, “I need to get to the Jumper,” ‘we’re right below the gate,’ she breathed as she turned and passed through the clearing she and John had stopped in the previous day, ‘I should be able to dial the gate.’

She crossed another clearing and moved to follow a path they had laid out on their arrival; she was going to circle around the jumper to make sure none of these local people were in the area.


	3. Chapter 3

John woke in the dim light of a cave, his eyes scanning the small area around him as he tried to figure out just what had happened the day before.

He remembered the waterfall, watching Elizabeth strip all but her underwear as she went for a dip. He vividly remembered her pulling him in and how her skin had felt in his hands as they talked about her tattoo; the same tattoo he had used as blackmail to get her out here.

He let out a short sarcastic laugh at the irony of trying to get her on vacation only to get them in trouble. 

‘Blackmail your boss into relaxing by threatening to tell people about a tattoo she has on her pelvis.’

He chuckled at himself and pushed up into a sitting position and immediately regretted the movement as his head swam with a pounding headache.

‘Elizabeth?’ he tested in a loud whisper, ‘you here?’

John crawled his way to the opening in the area and pulled up against the wall; he peeked out and was immediately met with blunt object in his face. He staggered backwards a few steps before falling to the floor again.

He closed his eyes against the added pain and hoped Elizabeth was getting better treatment than he was, he would kill any man who touched her... in anyway.

Someone was talking, he realised this fact just before someone kicked his leg and he opened his eyes to find someone standing over him, he couldn’t see the face of the man, a large round belly stuck out to block his view of the man’s face, but the amount of hair that lined his stomach and legs made John sure he was looking at the ugliest man he’d ever met.

‘I didn’t catch that,’ John said lazily and received another, harder kick in the leg. The man spoke again, but the words were lost on him, there was definitely going to be a communication problem as they didn’t seem to speak English.

Before he could say anything, rough hands dragged him to his feet and John let out a low “ow” of pain as he came face to face with the man.

As suspected, he was hideous, his face covered in dirt and warts. John cringed for a moment before he smiled cockily at him.

‘Hi,’ he kept his smile as he waited, but nothing came of the gesture. ‘So, it seems we didn’t know you were living here, we’ll just leave you to it and head back to the...’

A sharp pain in his gut made him double over and let out a groan. Above him, the man spoke again, John suspected he was angry about something, but even listening to the tone in his voice as the man circled him, he couldn’t work out what they had done.

John straightened up slowly as he listened to the man, he passed in front of his vision and John winced at the state of the man’s skin and hair. 

As the man passed him and moved around behind him again, John looked around, to his left a small group of four or five woman stood watching him, their eyes dragging over him with interest he didn’t like to see. 

They were as nasty looking as the man talking, their long black hair tattered with mud and blood and their naked bodies covered in cuts, bruises and welts as if they had been beaten many times. Yet they still stood proud, as if they were in the company of a king and it suddenly dawned on John that the man circling him was the leader of these people.

~~**~~

Elizabeth sat shivering in the early morning sun, her back against a tree and her eyes watching the three men who darted in and out of the trees ahead of her, their pattern of patrolling the area wasn’t quite uniform, but it was enough to keep Elizabeth away from the Jumper.

She could see the back hatch of the small pod and wished she’d had the brains to pick up the remote for it from John’s pack on the beach; she could have opened it and scared the life out of them.

“And given them access,” she added as she pulled her knees up closer to her chest. She’d spent the night sitting there, out of their view but keeping them in hers.

She hadn’t noticed the temperature the night before; wrapped in a sleeping bag with her extra blanket she had slept comfortably through the night. But having sat awake for the whole of the last one, she realised that it was freezing, she had become convinced that by morning, they would have found a frozen woman propped up against the tree trunk.

She was lost at the moment, Ashton’s team were dead and tied to the stones along the beach and she had no idea where John was, he didn’t have a radio so she couldn’t contact him and the Puddle Jumper was being patrolled by the cast of Lord of the Flies.

She had to find a way out of this mess, and the only way she knew to get out of anything was to negotiate.

Resigning herself to the inevitable, Elizabeth pulled up to her feet, took a deep breath and hoped they wouldn’t kill her on sight. She moved forward, carefully stepping in the view of the few teenaged boys who patrolled the Jumper and raised her hands to show her surrender.

It didn’t take long before one of them noticed her and raised his weapon, it wasn’t until he started shouting for the others that she realised she’d made a very big mistake.

She walked in silence, not knowing what to do to get away or even if it would be possible, they were bound to shoot an arrow at her if she tried to run, but she couldn’t talk to them without them understanding English, or her understanding their language.

It was a long walk to the cave and Elizabeth looked around as she followed the boys into the dwelling. She followed them down a tunnel and into a small opening that was guarded by a few boys not much older than those she had followed.

As she stepped in, she caught sight of the back of a man who wore very little, to her left a few women stood against the wall proudly watching as he kicked at something on the ground. Elizabeth had to take a few steps to her right before she realised the thing on the floor was John.

She took a few steps forward and was stopped by the hands of the boys who had escorted her.

‘John,’ she breathed and the man who was kicking him stopped and looked in her direction. She did her best to keep the fear out of her expression as she met his eyes, they were harsh eyes on a horrid face of welts and as he ran his eyes down her body she felt horribly exposed and strangely dirty.

He spoke to the boys as she returned her gaze to John who lay still on the ground and just smiled up at her.

‘You got caught?’ he asked quietly as the boy holding her replied to his leader.

‘I gave myself up hoping I could talk you free.’

‘Oh well done Elizabeth, you were free, you could have got help,’ the sarcasm in his voice was noticed by the man and he received a sharp kick for it.

‘I didn’t get much choice, they were patrolling the Jumper.’

‘Why didn’t you go back to the beach and...?’

‘Ashton’s team is dead, tied to the stones on the beach.’

She watched as horror flicked across his face and he closed his eyes, she was so lost in watching him, she didn’t notice the conversation around her had stopped and the man was once again examining her. She looked around and caught his eye; he seemed to like her eyes, as he moved forward and ran a finger across her cheek under her left one.

She jerked her head back but he grabbed her neck and forced her back to face him. Elizabeth could feel his fingers against her neck as they snuck up into her hair and he played lightly with her curls before tearing his eyes away from her to talk to the women she had passed.

They pulled quickly from the wall and moved over to her, she could feel their tight grip on her arms as she looked pleadingly at John for some form of help. He moved, she caught the action as she was tugged out of the area and heard the sound of a kick and John’s unmistakable grunt at the harsh action.

She was pulled into another opening further down the corridor and was suddenly surrounded by women, they eyed her curiously and she caught looks of disgust on some of the faces. One of those holding her called to the others and several of them moved towards them.

She watched cautiously for a moment, wondering what they were going to do and when they finally took hold of her t-shirt to try and remove it, she shied back and attempted to pry her arms from their coarse fingers.

When she caught sight of another set of clothes being brought her way by the youngest, she began to struggle more, there was no way she was going to be seen in their clothes, the short skirt was barely able to cover them and the shirts they wore were nothing more than a strip of cloth around their chest held up by thin pieces of string.

~~**~~

John staggered to his feet in the now empty cavern; it had been at least half an hour since Elizabeth had been dragged off by the women, he wondered if she was okay.

He’d been harsh with her earlier, snapping at her for getting caught wasn’t the best of ideas and definitely wasn’t going to help their situation any. Especially, he thought, with the way that guy looked at her.

He leaned against the wall and looked out into the corridor opposite wondering if anyone was still out there guarding him. As if they had read his mind, one of the boys turned and looked into the room.

John smiled mockingly at him and moved to sit on a rock at the side of the room. Things always seemed to go wrong for him, whichever way he looked at it, he was always in trouble. That trouble seemed to double with Elizabeth around though.

He signed resolutely to the fact that he’d put her in danger, they hadn’t done a proper survey on this world, they had flown over in a Jumper, did a life signs scan and nothing more; and all because he wanted to get back in time for the weekly movie.

He’d bugged her into coming, tried to trick her into coming here, even got to Carson and attempted to talk him into ordering her to take the time off and go with him. All of which he could live with, but he’d gone one step further and blackmailed her, threatening to tell not only Rodney, but half the expedition that Doctor Elizabeth Weir was wild enough to get a tattoo of a cat on her pelvis.

He smirked as the memory of the waterfall came back to him, her hips in his hands, his thumb brushing against her, teasing her. He remembered the devious look on her face when he’d suggested peeking at her tattoo; he’d considered that a few more times asking and she’d have given in.

But the moment had ended, flown past him as the local people had taken to firing at them. Or at him, he thought savagely remembering the arrow he avoided as he shoved Elizabeth out of the water.

He’d run through the forest behind her, dodging things thrown his way until he’d seen her dart off to the right and something suddenly struck him from the side. He remembered briefly seeing something cross the path ahead of him to follow Elizabeth from his view and then... nothing.

When she’d walked into the cavern almost an hour ago now, John had taken in the look on the man’s face, how he’d run his eyes down the length of her body and back to up to her face.

If he’d have thought about it then he probably would have killed the bastard, the look on his face told him in no uncertain terms that he regarded a woman as an item to be owned. If he added the look of those who had followed him in, he was sure the reason he was so interested in Elizabeth was because she was pure.

He stood up quickly, feeling pain in his ribs as he moved over to the entrance. The boy who had peeked in earlier turned to look at him, glaring at him in warning.

‘Where’s Elizabeth?’ John demanded and all he got in reply was the boy shouting at him and point back into the cave. He pulled back annoyed now that he’d let the guy take her away and prayed she’d at least retained some knowledge of how to fight back from her very few sessions with Teyla.

He was going to have to make sure she got more lessons, even if he had to drag her away from her desk kicking and screaming. Situations like this demanded she know how to fight back.

A scream from somewhere outside brought his attention sharply back to the present, his eyes flying to the doorway, his breathing coming in fast bursts as he listened for signs that the person who’d screamed was the woman he cared about more than anything.

She screamed again and without thinking about it John moved, he ran out the cavern and down the corridor ignoring the shouts of those following him and pushed past a group of girls who’d gathered in a doorway.

What he saw shocked him, before the anger set in. Elizabeth was pinned to the wall; two women holding her against it as the hideous man from earlier ran his dirty fingers through the curls of her hair. His other hand was occupied with his length, held firmly in his hand as he stroked himself against her bare thigh.

She struggled against the woman holding her and John took in the look of hatred she gave the man as he moved from stroking her hair to running his fingers across her cheek under her eyes. 

It was as he moved his hand down to her chest that John finally had enough anger to move and he pushed forward. With the first blow, John felt the man’s blood on his hand, he realised as he hit the second time that there was a scratch down his face he hadn’t seen before.

He tackled the man down, punching with all his might at him, he hated men who forced themselves on women at the best of times; he could kill the man with his bare hands for touching someone he loved.

It was the brief moment that he realised his thoughts that were his undoing and strong hands pulled him off and out of the room. His eyes lifted to the wall where Elizabeth had been pinned and found her gone, the women he’d seen holding her were on the ground, one of them unconscious and he realised she’d gotten away. 

As he was dragged roughly back to his holding room he wondered if she was waiting around the corner, hoping to get him back before she ran.

‘Elizabeth, RUN!’ he called before he felt the blow to his head and darkness seeped in on all sides before he dropped into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

She couldn’t tell where the rain ended and her tears began, everything was going from bad to worse and she was running out of time and patience.

She had no idea where she was as she curled up under the canopy of a large tree that barely supplied shelter from the heavy rain. It pelted down on her skin like small pellets being fired from a great distance and added to the gloom of her situation.

It was dark when she’d left the cave and she’d run as long as she could with her heart beating wildly in her chest as fear drove her to move and hate of herself made her heart ache that she’d left him behind to take punishment for saving her; for freeing her.

But the thought of what that man could have done was pushing horrid images into her head. She hadn’t thought it so bad after the women had changed her clothes, pulled away the comfortable pants and t-shirt; taken away her underwear and edged her into their grubby version of a skirt and top.

They’d taken Elizabeth to what she could only assume was a private room, a badly carved stone table and block sat as if ready for diners to take their place and enjoy an eloquent meal. He’d offered her a seat, handed her a deep bowl of liquid as he’d downed one of his own and then sat watching her.

She’d literally shuddered as he’d studied her eyes, talking as if he were romancing a beautiful woman in the middle of Venice or Paris. Indicated her eyes and smiled at her with rotting teeth before moving on to talk about her hair.

His hand movements had given away the conversation, and she had suspected he’d found her attractive at that point, but then he’d dropped one of his grubby mittens to his lap and she’d seen the muscle in his upper arm pulse as he moved she knew exactly what he’d been thinking.

She’d looked anywhere but at him as he stroked himself in front of her, and when he banged the bowl on the table to catch her attention he’d indicated that she should move to sit in his lap.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she’d shook her head determined to make sure he knew she was untouchable; but it had done nothing to deter him.

He’d stood up and moved towards her, giving her a disgusting view of his throbbing, dirt covered length as his clothing had parted to make way for it. She tensed as he ran a finger down her cheek and throat to the strap of her top where he began to ease it off her shoulder.

She’d pulled away and he abandoned the strap to pull her to her feet, she’d gone easily at that point, the situation not fully sinking in yet, until he tried to push her forward to lean over the table. She pushed back and stepped away and he’d struck her for it.

She let out a cry of pain and in a momentary lapse in judgement extended her hand and slapped him in return, the added anger at being struck curled her fingers and she scraped her nails down his face.

The growl he let out scared her and she saw the blood seep though the cuts she’d created before two pairs of grubby hands grabbed her and dragged her back to the wall. It was at this moment that she realised she’d gotten an audience, women ranging from teenaged girls to old and wrinkled ladies stood gathered in the doorway.

They watched as he crossed the room to her and ran his fingers back through her hair, over her cheek and down her body to slip a finger through the lips between her legs. He shoved a finger roughly inside her and she screamed again before he pulled out and wrapped the hand once again around his length.

A fresh wave of tears escaped as she remembered babbling at this point, saying whatever she could think of to make him stop, pleading and begging to be released, she’d told him she wanted John, told him she was in love with him and he’d just ignored her.

Moments stretched passed before something changed. John staggered in and she breathed a small sigh of relief, her eyes fixed on him as he took in the sight, she’d seen the anger cross his face, the look of a man who’d just caught his wife being raped by another.

She’d been reminded briefly of her friend who’d seen just that, he had chased the man back then, and she’d gone to the aid of his wife, beaten, bruised, cut and screaming in terror to be left to die.

Exactly what she wanted to do just now, curl up in the cold rain and cry herself into oblivion; but she couldn’t.

John needed her help, it was the only thing that would keep her going. She clung to the memory of his boyish grin back in Atlantis when she’d called his bluff on blackmailing her; pictured his apologetic look on his face when he’d stopped her on the way to the beach to really make his case about the skinny-dipping comment.

But it was the memory of his fingers, firm on her hips, his thumb brushing the thin black panties she wore that brought her to her feet. She wondered, as she pushed up and used the tree for support, if he’d even realised the panties she wore had thin straps holding the material that covered her. 

Had he realised that his thumb had brushed not over the top of them the second time, but under them over the smooth shaved skin of her pelvis and very possibly over the tattoo he was teasing her about.

She pushed off the tree and started to walk, each step feeling like lead weight was attached to the bottom of her bare feet. She had to think of something to keep her going but the conversations she’d had with him over this elegantly designed cat was all that was on her mind.

“He can see it,” she told herself resolutely as she trudged through the mud in what she hoped was the direction of the Jumper. “If we survive, I’ll gladly strip naked and he can look all he wants.”

She chuckled, thinking it and doing it were two completely different things and it would be a great test to her own dignity to let him look at such a personal area, just so he could see the design her cousin had drawn.

“Only to be seen by the bravest and sexiest of men.” Those had been Mathilda’s words days after their group of friends had gotten the tats. “Any man who truly loves you, Elizabeth,” she had continued directing her last comment towards only her, “will ask your permission to kiss it.”

They’d broken into fits of giggles at the words and Elizabeth paused in her trek to hang her head at the memory of the last time all of them had been together. A single tear joined the rain drops on her face and she sniffed for a second before pushing onward.

She had to find the Jumper, dial the gate, ask for help and then... what? Wait? She didn’t think she could just sit there and hope they’d come quickly, she didn’t want to, even if they didn’t check the Jumper first to find her, she wanted to hurt the man for touching her. Wanted to see pain on his face for kicking at John and would more than likely kill him if he’d done anything to her second in command while she’d been wallowing in self pity.

The morning sun peeked through the canopy above her as Elizabeth pushed through the brush and emerged in a thin clearing. Her brow creased and she staggered slightly as she moved a few paces to the left and looked out through a gap in the long line of stones.

The beach she had slept on the first night here lay dormant and calm, the few tents set up shortly after their arrival still stood to the right, the signs of their having lived there briefly scattered around the small area they had occupied.

She turned and took in the horrible sight of four men hung by their arms to the stones lining the beach. Blood had pooled at their feet and their heads hung down limply between their raised limbs.

She moved carefully over to them, her hand shaking as she reached out and took hold of the dog tags that hung swaying in the light breeze around Ashton’s neck. She fumbled to undo the second tag, not wanting to just yank it from his chain, she moved on, repeating the task with the other two military personnel in the team and then stopped in front of Doctor Ambles. He had no tags, no visual form of identification.

Her trembling fingers reached out and tucked into his pockets, removing anything she could find to take back, a hand scanner, a few test tubes of food samples and a ring. A wedding ring, she noted as she ran her fingers across the metal and examined the inside for some form of marking.

“My beautiful Allison - 13 May 2002”

She could see the words etched in, the words and name tugging at her heart. She turned away quickly, moving back across the beach as determination struck her and an urgency to act took over. She vanished into her tent, grabbed her uniform and quickly changed, pulling on fresh underwear and strong boots to ease the aching in her feet.

She emptied her back pack, shoving only what she needed back inside and tucking the tags and ring safely into a pocket before she pulled herself out and moved across to John’s. She held no remorse for going through his things, taking extra items; food, drink, a hand gun and anything she thought would become useful through the short day.

Her scavenging completed, Elizabeth moved out of the tent and back to the opening in the stones, she took one last glance at the four lost men before she moved quickly vanishing between the stones and out through the forest in the direction of the Jumper.

~~**~~

John spat the blood from his mouth into the corner of the room and looked around, he’d been pulled back to his cell after attacking the man giving Elizabeth time to escape, but since then he’d been dragged by the feet into his current room and tied to a stone table.

His shoulders ached from their position and his muscles ached from the abuse they had taken. He had been beaten, the cuts on his face were extensive and he knew as soon as they got back to the city he would be, for the first time, very thankful for the bed in the infirmary.

His back twitched and John squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to forget it, he pictured Elizabeth instead, pulling her t-shirt up over her head by the waterfall the sight of her black lace bra as she turned her back on him was enough to keep him occupied for a few minutes before someone entered the room.

It was her voice that drew him out of his thoughts, the soft sound of a young girl. He pried his eyes open and looked in her direction, she was no more than 15 and John wondered if she’d been given the same abuse Elizabeth had.

She walked around the side of the table and placed a bowl on the stone beside her before she looked at him and smiled before speaking again. Her face was pale, but seemingly unharmed and he creased his brow at the difference between this girl and every other woman he’d seen so far.

She dipped her hand in the bowl and extracted a cloth, as she moved towards him John shied away, not wanting to be touched by one of these people. She stopped and he eyed her for a moment, her smile was still there and soothing to him. She spoke again, indicating her face where he’d been cut and John took it to mean she wanted to clean his wounds.

He moved back, settling his shoulders to their previous position and watched as she cautiously approached again with the cloth still in hand.

The liquid stung at his face, he tried to ignore it and took the muttered word from the girl as an apology for the added pain. She tended to all his cuts and he had to admit he was thankful for it. The pain had subsided somewhat from his face as she moved down his arms and legs and he had a feeling that shortly after she left, he would ache less.

He closed his eyes again as she moved away and out of the room, his mind wondering where Elizabeth was now, what she was doing. Had she reached the Jumper? Called for help? Or was she sat somewhere, alone and scared, her body shaking from the horror she’d just experienced.

The latter thought scared him, he could truly see her scared and crumpled, but he didn’t actually know if he’d touched her, or if he’d been merely heading in that direction. He didn’t want her to be afraid like that; to never let him near her, never let him flirt like he did, like he always got away with.

Would she be the same after this? Would she pull away, recede into a scared woman who kept her distance from everyone? Would she leave Atlantis?

He winced at the thought, it wouldn’t be the same in the city without her, she was something to fight for, something to look forward to. When he was fighting the Wraith, he used to remind himself that she was waiting, expecting him to come back in one piece and smile up at her encouragingly. What would he do without her?

It scared him more than he had ever realised, and he began to struggle against his bindings, he growled out as he pulled hard on the straps over his wrist, they cut into his skin painfully and his frustration at not know what was happening, where Elizabeth was and how to get out of this mess made him want to scream or cry.

He settled down as someone else entered the room, his eyes roaming over the overweight and hideous form of the man responsible for his cuts and bruises and probably for any Elizabeth had.

‘Where’s Elizabeth?’ he demanded and was rewarded with the man’s face up close. John held his breath against the smell as his intimidator spoke close enough for John to guess what he’d eaten for dinner. The smell was putrid, made him feel sick and tried desperately not to breathe it in.

The man stood up quickly and shouted at someone out of John’s vision before he struck John across the face. John glared back for a moment before the man spoke and this time, John could understand what he meant.

‘Elizabeth,’ he said and then indicated himself as he said the other word. He was claiming her, making sure John understood that she was his property now and it all finally sunk in.

He had been attacked at the waterfall because he’d touched her; the man in charge here had seen her, assumed she was owned by John and attacked him to take her from him. When they were unable to catch her, they took him hoping she would follow – which she had done. 

This old, dirty and crude man owned all the women and from what John could see from his time that ownership was limited. Elizabeth’s soft and light curls and green eyes must have intrigued him from the start. John began to struggle again but only managed to move his hand slightly before he was hit and unconsciousness took over.

~~**~~

Elizabeth jammed the radio transmitter into her ear as she walked up the ramp to the thankfully unguarded Jumper. Her foul mood at the situation had shown in her quick pace and how she’d practically thumbed the remote of the rear hatch.

Of all the times she’d been on vacation and gone to joke about needing another to recuperate from the first, she never thought she’d actually truly need it. When this was over, she and John were going to the far side of the main land to a beach without stones lining it and sleeping for a week.

She hit the first symbol of the gate address to Atlantis and it failed to light up, she tried again and growled in frustration. They were out of range of the gate, there was no way she could call for help.

Bashing the heal of her palms against the panel she swung around and moved into the rear compartment, she was angry now, she wanted this to end, she couldn’t wait the next two hours out for Atlantis to dial the gate and contact her, if it would be two hours, they might give her an extra hour to “relax”.

She was going to get John, bring him back to the Jumper and they were leaving. There was no way she was going to get caught here with these unclean people who had little to no manners and a man who couldn’t control his body when in the same room with her.

She yanked a P-90 from the storage compartments, shoved a few extra clips into her back pocket and trudged out of the Jumper and through the forest.

Elizabeth checked her gun as she approached the cave entrance; she was pleased with herself for managing to follow a pretty young and surprisingly clean girl back from a nearby pond. She promised herself if people got shot, the girl would be the last person she touched.

She studied the area, two men standing either side of the entrance, one of which she had seen before standing guard outside John’s “cell” she flipped the gun into single shot mode and took a careful aim at his thigh, she wanted to shoot a little higher and a little to the left, but his right thigh would have to do.

She fired once and winced as the other man on the other side of the cave turned to try and spot their attacker, he ignored the pain the first was in as he moved off towards her and she had to duck out of sight and waited for a second for him to step into the trees so she could run to the cave entrance.

It was eerily quiet inside, Elizabeth made her way from cavern to cavern uninterrupted, no sound, no people, nothing. She followed another tunnel, running her back along the walls as she side stepped quietly down it.

A burst of applause and cheering made her jump; she raised the gun higher and held her breath as it sank in. She moved forward again, slowly heading towards the ruckus and hopefully John.

She could see the backs of people as she stepped into the room, they were watching something ahead, loads of men gathered and cheering, the occasional one accosting or raping a woman as their leader stood on a platform ahead punching at John’s face and chest.

The anger that had dissipated as she made her way through the tunnel returned and Elizabeth did the only thing she could think of at the moment. The only thing she was sure would get them out of there alive.

She raised the P-90, using the scope to find her target, the man currently hitting at John, he pulled back, raised his arms in triumph and Elizabeth caught sight of the girl she’d followed back. She was stood at his side, her eyes downcast. It struck Elizabeth for a moment that this girl was his daughter, perhaps his only daughter and it was obvious, she didn’t approve of what her father did.

Swallowing hard Elizabeth steadied her aim at the man’s head, silently apologised to the girl and squeezed at the trigger. 

The shot rang through the large cavern and silence fell, on the other side of the room, the leader stood shock on his face registered for the second it took for the bullet to leave her weapon and strike him. He crumpled slowly to his knees before falling forward on the ground.

Elizabeth lowered the gun, her eyes fixed on the girl still standing at the front of the room as she watched the man fall. She didn’t look away, not even as the men nearest to her turned and raised the occasional weapon at her.

She felt calm; she couldn’t believe she felt this calm. She had shot a man, she’d shot someone before, but never with the intention to kill them, but this time, she had planned it. Either way she was calm, standing in amongst the men most of them unsure as she watched out the corner of her eye as a man climbed onto the stage and tried to wake his leader.

Her heart beat in her ear louder than she’d ever heard it, clearer than she wanted to admit. The blood thumped through her ear drum as the watched the girl, still unmoved from her location, slowly raising her head.

She spoke, but the words were lost on Elizabeth, the sound of her beating heart still the only thing she could hear. A hand rose from the girl’s side and pointed at John, no one else moved and everything felt slightly unreal as she watched the girl bark an order at the men at the front.

Tentatively the men climbed onto the platform and begun untying the straps that held John in place. Elizabeth’s eyes flicked away and over to John who staggered on the step before moving weakly away from them.

The crowd parted as John climbed unsteadily from the stage and limped through towards her. Elizabeth kept her eyes on the girl ahead, still giving orders to the crowd for a moment more before she turned and looked directly at her.

She nodded and smiled.

Elizabeth reached out, releasing her gun as John reached her and she wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled him quickly to the exit and out into the tunnels. She moved quickly, her mind wildly trying to understand what had just happened, she couldn’t believe it had been that easy – she had expected to have to shoot more of them to get to him.

She moved out of the cave and met with an arrow held to her face by one of the men guarding it; the other still cowering on the ground, blood pooling from the wound on his upper thigh.

‘This weapon did that,’ Elizabeth said raising her gun and indicating the man on the ground, ‘would you like to see how it works?’

The boy eyed her, checking the weapon as she nudged it in the direction of his partner again. He lowered his bow and stepped aside, Elizabeth eyed him and pushed John off her shoulder to move towards the trees, she kept her gun trained on him as she stepped passed, she turned, keeping an eye on him as she backed towards the trees and at the last minute turned and vanished from view.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth paused outside John’s door and closed her eyes; it had been three weeks since they’d been stuck on “Caveman Hell”. The name they gave to the planet they had been stuck on had been picked by Rodney; he’d sat through the debriefing with them, Carson and Kate Heightmeyer a few days after their return.

By both the doctors’ recommendation, John and Elizabeth had spent their second week back with the Athosians and since had been on leave pending review from them both.

Elizabeth knew John had moved on, put the whole incident out of his mind as he usually did and was eager to return to work, but Elizabeth had something she needed to do before she could push it out of her mind forever.

She sucked in a deep breath, opened her eyes and ran her hand down the door panel to sound the chime. It was a moment before the door opened and John looked at her in confusion.

‘Hi,’ he said, smiling brightly at her.

‘Hey,’ she started feeling stupid and shy all of a sudden. ‘Can I come in?’

‘Sure,’ he said quickly and moved aside for her. ‘You okay?’

She nodded, not sure she could speak while struggling with the voice in her head that screamed at her to run. She didn’t want to turn and leave, she needed to do this, needed to feel whole again and this was the only way she could do it.

She stopped inside the room and hung her head in shame for thinking this was better done with John as she would keep her promise. She should just admit that she was in love with him, she could tell herself, but telling him was a completely different matter.

‘What’s wrong Elizabeth?’ John said and she could hear the worry in his voice as he moved to stand in front of her. The door behind her was now closed and she was thankful for it, her escape had now been cut off and she had to face what she wanted and needed to do.

‘I erm…,’ she choked on the words she wanted to say. John’s hand came up and she felt the side of his finger against her chin as he tilted her head up to face him. ‘I made a promise,’ Elizabeth winced at how small her voice sounded, ‘and I need to keep it.’

‘What promise?’ she watched his brow crease in confusion and spent a moment examining the folds of his forehead. Before she stepped away from him, moving further into the room and over to his bedside.

‘After he tried to...’ she started and closed her eyes over the wave of emotion. She swallowed and picked up the Sudoku book on his bedside, ‘I needed something to keep me going, so I made you a promise.’

‘What did you promise me?’ he asked as she flipped the pages and stopped at the last puzzle he had completed.

‘That, erm...’ she hated herself, for just a moment she couldn’t believe she was entertaining the thought of standing here in his private room and showing him her pelvis, ‘that I’d show you the tattoo.’

Elizabeth loved the fact that she knew John so well, without turning she could guess his reaction to the declaration. He would swallow a few lumps in his throat, his eyebrows both raised in interest as he eyed her cautiously trying to work out if she was serious. She figured he’d clear his throat before he tried to speak and wondered if he would start with her name or simply go straight for the fact that she didn’t need to keep that particular promise. 

As if on cue, John cleared his throat loudly, coughing a few times in order to make sure the lumps were gone.

‘Elizabeth,’ he started and she smiled, ‘you don’t have to show me anything,’ she could feel his discomfort as he tried to find a way out of the situation. ‘You know, I didn’t hear that promise, so technically....’

‘I need... to keep it,’ she said quietly cutting him off. She turned slowly and took a step back towards him.

‘Elizabeth,’ he breathed, the end of her name disappearing into nothingness as he tried to take in what she was saying. He struggled for a moment and she smiled coyly for a second as the thought of making him speechless flittered across her mind.

She took a breath before she moved, running her hands lightly over her hips and stomach towards the top button of her pants. Before she could unhook it, John had moved forward, closed the gap between them and wrapped his strong fingers around her wrists.

‘I was afraid,’ he admitted, ‘I thought he was going to kill me, because I’d touched you back in the waterfall,’ she watched him, confusion now creasing her own brow. ‘You didn’t realise did you? He wanted you because you were in such contrast to all the other women, black hair, browned skin and eyes.’

She shivered at the thought and John ran his hands up her arms causing a contrast of heat against the cold she suddenly felt.

‘You’re beautiful Elizabeth,’ he continued, ‘especially compared to those women,’ his hand came up to her cheek and his thumb brushed lightly along the top near her eye, ‘your eyes are your best feature and I can’t help but get lost in them when we start flirting. The little spark of fun that lights in them is just...’ John sucked in a breath, ‘breathtaking.’

‘I fell in love with you,’ she admitted without fully meaning to, ‘over a year ago,’ she smiled and let out a half sob half laugh at the situation, ‘but you’re impossible; impossible to understand and read, to know what you’re thinking about me.’

‘I was afraid of losing you,’ he offered out, ‘I wasn’t scared of dying, I would have done it to set you free,’ he moved closer, tilting his head down and leaving his lips just inches from her own. ‘I was afraid that what he did would drive you to leave Atlantis,’ he paused, watching her face as he contemplated his words carefully. ‘You saved my life, Elizabeth, you owe me nothing, but I owe you everything.’

She couldn’t take it anymore, she moved in, closing the small gap between them and kissed him, letting it linger lightly as she pulled back, waiting to see what he would do in response.

Her eyes opened and she took his in, watching for any sign that what she had just done was a big mistake, but it wasn’t there.

‘I know what happened to your cousin must have made it hard to do what you did, it must make it harder to get through,’ he told her in a low soft voice.

‘I thought it would have been a lot harder than it was,’ she told him, looking down for a moment. ‘All I could think about was getting you out, I didn’t want anything to stop me.’

John held her gaze for a moment; she could see the lust building in his eyes at her words before he reached up and pulled her closer to him for another kiss.

Elizabeth finally moved her hands away from her pants, slipping them up slightly to the hem of her t-shirt. She stepped back from him, breaking the kiss as she moved the shirt up and over her head to deposit it on the floor at her side.

She was no longer shy, the feeling had left and she felt no shame as she watched John lower his eyes from her face to take in her upper body. The white lace bra in contrast to what he had seen back on “Caveman Hell” when they had found the waterfall.

Feeling a little like she was on display, Elizabeth reached her hands behind her back and flicked them across the straps of her bra to unhook it. It loosened and she watched in amusement as John licked his lips, his eyes fixed on her chest and his hands flexing at his sides.

Elizabeth stepped forward, taking hold of his t-shirt and hoisting it up over his head. It was obvious he was too lost in her to undress himself.

When she’d removed his shirt, she took his hands in her own and raised them up to her shoulders where she guided them down her arms as far as she could, taking her bra straps with them.

He got the hint at this point and licking his lips again he took control of the material under his fingers and removed the article of clothing. Elizabeth watched him as he flicked his eyes back up to hers before his hands released the bra to the forgotten pile on the floor.

He placed his hands on her sides and dragged his eyes back to her face. She smiled at him watching the desire flitter across his face before he leaned in and stole her lips in a searing kiss.

Elizabeth crushed herself against him, her hands on the sides of his face pulled him closer in the kiss and she could feel the pressure of his hands on her lower back as he tried to nudge her closer.

Wanting more, Elizabeth ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, she could feel his muscles flex at her touch as she moved her way down to his waist and took hold of the sides of his jeans. It was a moment before she moved on, dragging her fingers along the inside of his jeans around to the front where she could attack his button and zipper and move them down his hips to the ground.

She gave him no warning, as she released his jeans she brought her hands back to his front and grasped his cock through his boxers. John gasped in her mouth and pulled away to let the moan escape.

Grinning in triumph, Elizabeth turned him so his back was to the bed and pushed him to sit down. She crouched in front of him and dragged the last of his clothes down, forcing him to lift his hips slightly as she moved.

Pushing his boxers to the side, Elizabeth ran her hands back up his legs easing them apart as she moved so she could fit herself between them.

‘Elizabeth,’ John gasped, realising what she was going to do and his eyes closed as her fingers wrapped tightly around his shaft.

She gave a few firm strokes before she leaned in and kissed his stomach, he jerked slightly in her hand and she smiled up at him. Her second kiss fell on his left thigh just underneath his manhood and she quickly followed it up with a kiss on the other side before hungrily taking the head of his cock into her mouth.

‘God Elizabeth,’ he hissed as his fingers became lost in her hair. She pulled back slightly, sucking again on the head and felt John drop back on the bed above her. She raised her eyes, running them up along his body before she ran her hand from his thigh up to squeeze at his balls.

He jerked suddenly giving her the response she had wanted as he reached quickly down and pulled her off him. She raised her hand to wipe at her mouth and watched him, flat on his back on the bed, eyes closed and brow creased in concentration. He had come very close to losing control and was currently regaining it.

When he didn’t move again, Elizabeth reached for him again and lazily stroked his length for a moment. She felt him twitch before he moved, sitting up and pulling her up to stand in front of him.

‘I thought I was gonna get to see this tattoo,’ he stated, his fingers playing the waist band of her pants before moving to the button. ‘Left side,’ he said popping the first button and pulling the material on her left side away.

He tried to peek in but had two more buttons to undo before he could get close. Elizabeth chuckled, watching as he trapped his tongue between his teeth and popped the next button. He peeked again and Elizabeth adjusted her stance for him.

‘See anything yet?’ she asked. Her hand rested on his shoulders and she looked down herself at him, she moved again, readjusting to push her pelvis forward to tease him.

It didn’t work; John merely leaned in and placed a delicate kiss on her belly before flicking the last button open and running his hands down her pants over her hips and thighs. He paused when he reached her ankles and looked up at her with a quirked brow.

‘Where are your shoes?’

‘I didn’t put them on when I left my room,’ she told him with a smile. ‘I could go get...’ she tried to move away as she spoke again but John wrapped his arm around her waist, swung her around and flattened her to the bed.

‘You’re not going anywhere Weir,’ he said, his hands pinning hers to the mattress as he straddled her thighs.

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as he kissed her like a hungry man who hadn’t eaten for a year. The hungry kiss evaporated into something more passionate before he moved away, kissing down her jaw before attacking the skin of her neck.

‘You,’ he started as he kissed at her collar bone, ‘made me a promise,’ he moved down her chest and between her breasts as his hands released hers and he ran caressing circles up her abdomen before cupping her breasts.

‘I did, but you said you didn’t hear it so I didn’t have to...’

‘I plan to collect,’ he said before flicking his tongue over her nipple.

Elizabeth moaned and he repeated the action before sucking the nub into his mouth. He repeated it for the other breast and started to move on, kissing down her stomach laying a careful kiss at the remains of a cut that was still healing. When he came to the barrier of her pants, he looked glaring back up at her.

‘Who said you could still be dressed?’

‘No one,’ she said through a laugh and took hold of the covers quickly as John seized the sides of her pants and hoisted them down her legs.

Now on his knees at the end of the bed, John looked back up the length of her body and Elizabeth felt suddenly shy, his hungry eyes reminded her of those she had seen back in the cave on their supposed vacation.

His eyes were softer though and Elizabeth clung to this as John began to tease his fingers lightly up the inside of her legs. He passed her knees and she shifted, giving him access to continue up over her thighs to her hip.

As he teased circles on her skin next to her sex, Elizabeth closed her eyes and was surprised when he licked suddenly at the inside of her right thigh. She gasped and looked down. John was studying her intently, watching the reactions she gave to him being so close to her.

His eyes locked with hers, John ran a single finger up over her covered sex to linger over where he thought the tattoo was. He wasn’t far off, Elizabeth thought as she watched him, enjoying the feel of his digit lingering on the spot before hooking into the top of her panties and easing them down.

She raised her hips to let him remove the white lace, her eyes still held his as they ran down her legs and off over her feet, he wasn’t looking, not yet. He would hold her gaze as long as possible.

Still not looking, Elizabeth watched him lower his head to her stomach before he pulled up, tucking his arms under her shoulder and kissed her. The kiss was passionate and breathtaking, and Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath when he pulled away and kissed her cheek before moving to her ear.

‘Would your cousin object to me kissing your tattoo?’

Her heart thudded hard in her chest as he looked back at her, the words to answer were lost somewhere in the valley of her throat and she had to shake her head in order to reply.

John lay her carefully back on the bed, placing a quick kiss on her lips before he moved back down her body and finally saw the tattoo placed on the left side of her pelvis, just as she said it was.

He ran his finger over it first, tracing the black pattern with the tip of his digit before he ducked his head to her body and kissed the marking. He lingered there, holding the kiss to the very private part of her body before he moved back, his hands drifting down her thighs to her knees so he could push her legs apart and access something more precious.

Elizabeth dropped back on the bed, a single tear escaping to run down the side of her face as John ran his tongue through her sex, she could feel herself twitch, feel the juices of her pleasure begin to flow and all she could think, was that she’d finally found out what heaven was.

She writhed on the bed as he worked her with his tongue, his hand holding firm on her knees as she bucked her hips against him. He felt wonderful, delicate enough to tease and firm enough to edge her slowly towards release, he flicked occasionally at her clit to add to her pleasure.

His hands moved and Elizabeth moaned as they travelled up over her thighs, one of them disappearing under her leg to take hold of her hip and hold her still, while the other teased along her folds before slipping into her sex and vanishing into her tunnel.

She clenched at the intrusion, the memory of a dirty perverted face doing the same flashed across her mind and she had to force herself to relax, remind herself that this wasn’t him, this was John.

Obviously sensing something had changed, John moved back to flick his tongue over her clit and she instantly relaxed. She arched her back as he pushed the finger inside and felt him rub lightly over a very sensitive spot.

‘John,’ she breathed unable to ask him to stop and get inside her. She wanted to feel him, wanted to take her pleasure from his length, not his finger and wanted him to drive the last of the horrific memories from her brain.

He pulled away, carefully removing his hand from her sex and drifted up her body to steal a kiss. She felt his hands tuck under her shoulders again as they lingered on the kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him where he was, she didn’t want him to go back to teasing her; she wanted to feel him hot and deep inside her.

One hand left her shoulder and ran down her side to her knee where it lifted her leg from the bed and hooked it over his hip. As soon as the action was complete, Elizabeth became very aware of his stiff member pressed against her and groaned as she tried to shift her hips against his.

John pushed down slightly, attacking her neck with light kisses as he adjusted his hips into position and pushed slowly and easily into her body.

Her breathing hitched and she arched against him, pressing her stomach and chest to his, a low breathy groan escaping as he made his way slowly into her depth.

‘Jesus,’ John breathed against her neck as he hit home. His breathing was harsh against her skin and she felt him twitch with pleasure inside her. ‘I can’t...’ he breathed, ‘so tight.’

Elizabeth understood, he wouldn’t last long this time, but she didn’t care, she planned to do this again and they could take their time then, not that the amount of foreplay this time hadn’t been enjoyable.

Unable to speak, Elizabeth began to rock herself against him, her hands running over his back, but he didn’t move.

‘It’s okay John,’ she breathed and finished with a moan as he pulled his hips back and begun to thrust.

He started slow and Elizabeth let him pull his body up from hers, she caught his face with her fingers and watched the pleasure flicker across his features as he increased the pace.

She met him thrust for thrust, breathing hard with him as the speed hitched again, he was close, she could feel him pulsing inside her, but he was holding back. He leaned in again, resting his head beside hers and she heard him groan at the change of angle.

Again he tucked a hand behind her shoulder, using it as leverage to increase the pressure of his thrusts while his other hand made its way down her left side to grip her hip. She felt him change the angle inside her again and the hand on her hip wandered between them.

She moaned as he moved, flattening his palm out over her hip so his fingers could stroke at the tattoo on her pelvis for a moment before he moved more, dipping his finger against her clit so his palm covered the elegant cat marking.

It only took a few strokes before Elizabeth came, she moaned loudly and tightened around him, she heard John swear in her ear as he thrust a few more times and came inside her.

John’s teeth nipped at her shoulder as they regained their breathing, she felt him suck at the skin where he nipped before he pulled away, separating them and dropping onto the bed at her side.

‘I have a new appreciation for cats,’ John said with a smirk, his hand running lazily over her lower stomach.

Elizabeth rolled onto her side to face him, her fingers tracing a light scar down the side of his face before she kissed the end of his nose.

‘I have a new appreciation for blackmail,’ she said with a smile before wrapping her arms around him and kissing his shoulder.


End file.
